Method of burning acetylene and similar hydrocarbon gases for illuminating purposes.



A. L. HANSEN. METHOD OF BURNING ACETYLENE AND SIMILAR HYDROCARBON GASES FOR ILLUMINATING PURPOSES.

APPLICATION HLED NOV. 25.1916. 1,296,507.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

MUM

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AUG-IE L. HANSEN, OF EVAN STON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 JUSTRITE MANUFACTURING 4 COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A'CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF BURNING ACETYLENE AND SIMILAR HYD'ROCARBON GASES FOR ILLUMI- NATING PURPOSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGIE L.- HANSEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Burning Acetylene and Similar Hydrocarbon Gases for Illuminating Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

My improved method has been developed in connection with and is particularly applicable to the burning of acetylene gas but it may be made use of in connection with other hydrocarbon gases and particularly those which are rich in carbon and with which carbonization presents practical diflicultles.

My object is to provide a method by which the flame, if accidentally extinguished, will be automatically and immediately re-lighted. A further object is to provide a method by which a highly efficient illuminating flame may be secured, having the property to a marked extent of resisting the tendency to become extinguished by sudden currents or more or less continuous drafts of air.

I have developed my improved method particularly in connection With so-called acetylene miners lamps. These lamps are small light structures adapted to be carried on the caps of miners and provided with a carbid container supplied with about an ounce and a half of carbid and with a water receptacle above the same by which water in very small quantity is fed to the carbid so as to generate acetylene gas, the latter being conveyed to a small burner surrounded by a reflector and located on the outside of the water receptacle. Although these miners lamps are very small and compact and the conditions under which they operate are apparently unfavorable, they burn with astonishing regularity for from two to two and one-half hours for each charge, generating the acetylene gas at a pressure of about an inch and a half of water, although sometimes the pressure varies quite Widely from the normal figure.

Other miners or portable lamps using calcium carbid, of a larger type adapted to be carried by hand or supported from the timbers of the mine, are used, operating on the same general principle but with larger charges of water and carbid so as to burn for a full shift of from ten to twelve hours.

In mines where open flame lamps can be safely used the acetylene lamp has found a large field, owing to its lightness, convenience, safety, economy of operation and su-' extinguish the flames by backing up the gas in the tip. This necessitates re-lighting the lamps, which operation may sometimes have to be performed a great many times a day. Furthermore, in mine operations there are drafts and blasts of air constantly circulating, due to the opening and closing of air traps, the passage of trains and conditions arising from artificial ventilation and other causes; and these conditions also result-in frequently extinguishing the flames, requiring re-lighting.

With my improved method I cause the burning gas to develop suflicient heat in a body of refractory material located sufficiently close to the gas stream as to cause the same to be ignited in case the flame has become extinguished. I am, of course, aware that so-called re-lighting devices have been heretofore suggested in which a body of refractory material has been located very close to the'flame so as to become heated thereby and operate to relight the gas stream if the flame is extinguished; but such devices have not been commercially successful, for the reason that the re-lighting device, being outside of the path of the gas stream, fails to re-light the latter under ordinary conditions. With such a device it would be impracticable in the burning of acetylene or similar gas to locate the body of refractory material so close to the gas streamras to provide for effective re-lighting, because in that case it would be located within or too near the flame, which would cause it to be rapidly coated with'carbon so as to impair its heating qualities and at the same time interfere with the illumination. If such an igniting-device were in the form of aring through which the flame projected it would soon become entirely closed by the accumulation of carbon.

WVith my improved method I have discovered that it is possible to burn acetylene gas in two distinct but connected zones, the first being used for heating the re-lighting element without carbonization so that it may be located as a ring through which the gas stream passes, and the second providing for the necessary illumination. In other words, with my improved method I cause the gas to be first burned as a non-illuminating, noncarbonizing blue flame which comes into contact with the re-lighting device made of refractory material so as to heat the same, and from there on the gas is burned as a luminous flame, corresponding substantially to those now employed. Preferably, my improved method is carried out by suitably modifying the construction of the tip, whereby the flame will be subdivided into a non-illuminating heating portion and a 7 of a tip such as is claimed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 133,315, filed November 25th, 1916. The tip is made of socalled lava or other refractory material having a very fine orifice through which the gas stream projects and in advance of which is a heating chamber formed with an opening at its extreme end considerably larger than the gas orifice. Between the heating chamber and the gas orifice the bore is somewhat increased over the latter and intakes are provided to feed to the gas a limited supply of air to produce a Bunsen effect. The resulting blue flame is thereuponprojected through the heating chamber and escapes through the opening at the end thereof. I introduce also into the heating chamber, through openings formed in the walls thereof, an additional supply of air which appears to combine with the blue flame within the heating chamber so as-to increase the heating effect. I find by actual experi- .ment that if an added'supply of air is not introduced to the blue flame within the heating chamber, the heating effect is not so pro-' nounced as when this is done and there is also danger of carbonlzation around the mouth of the tip, particularly if the gas presgiing device and serves to strengthen the.

sure is low. The outer end of the tip is preferably formed as a bead or button, which becomes highly heated by the blue flame. and which constitutes the relight-' 1 nit/become extinguished. Preferably, I form a series-of openingsin the wall of the heat ing ch amber immediately below this enlarge ment, which openings by restricting the paths of heat conduction, permit the large end to be heated more eflectively. Under some conditions very small tongues from the blue flame are forced'out through these latter openings inoperation so as to increase the heating eifect.

In order that my improved method may be better understood, attention is directed to the accompanying drawing showing a sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale of a burner tip suitable for use .with a m-iners lamp and with which the method may be conveniently carried out. This tip is made of any suitable refractory material, preferably the so-called lava, of which gas tips are now made. It comprises a tapered nipple A, by which the tip is frictionally supported in any suitable way at the outer end of the gas pipe. The nipple is formed with a bore 8 B and with a very small gas orifice C, the 7 diameter of which determines the capacity of the tip. Above the orifice C is a larger passage D, into which lead the air'openings E E to supply a limited amount of air to the gas stream projected through the orifice C, thus producing a so-called Bunsen effect, the gas stream igniting immediately above the mouth of the enlargement D. The main portion of the tip comprises the heating chamber F having tapered walls as shown so as to be as strong as possible and at the'ex treme end is formed with a bead or buttonv G. The outer end of the heating chamber is contracted as s'hown, forming an opening H, through which the blue flame projects and. above which the illuminating flame is formed. An additional supply of air is introduced within the heating chamber throughopenings I and J which may be located in blue flame in dotted lines by the letter a, and 11 5 the illuminating flame in full lines by the letter Z). V v I 1 The indication of the blue flame is not intended to be precisely exact because its con- V 120 cording to the variations in pressure. Someditions appear to be constantly changing ac-.

times the blue flame appears to exist as avery thin pencil of substantially the same diameter throughout, located centrally in the heating chamber, and at times whenthe pres. sure is low it appears to swell outwardly so asto occupy the entire bore of the forward portion of the heating'chamber and small.v

tongues are forced. out through the openings 5 K and it varies between thesetwo extremes. 130

any suitable way; and immediately below the f j wIn operation, assuming such atip as I havev described to be used with a miners lamp and that gas under a slight pressure is being forced through the minute orifice burn as a luminous flame of great intensity corresponding in all respects to the flames now used.

I am not able to state positively what chemical action takes place in burning acetylene gas as I have above described in two separate distinct zones. It is possible that the combustion taking place in the heating chamber is an incomplete combustion which is completed outside of the tip to form the illuminating flame b. On the other hand,

it is-possible that a certain amount of un-' consumed acetylene is carried by the blue flame through the tip and becomes ignited on the outside of the tip to form the illuminating flame, or that both of these actions take place. Whatever may be the explanation of the phenomena, I find that by carrying my method into effect I am enabled to obtain within the heating chamber a blue flame having little or no tendency to carbonization, which is sufficiently hot to raise the re-lighting device to the proper temperature and that after leaving the tip an illuminating flame is secured, substantially corresponding in intensity and length to the usual standards. In practice I have determined that the best results are secured by carrying out the improved method with a device having the features shown in the drawing; but obviously the tip may be varied to meet the varying conditions of gas pressure, etc. It is desirable to contract the discharge from the heating chamber as shown because in this way the best heating effect is secured. I find, however, that if the opening H is enlarged somewhat, sufficient heating may be secured to re-light the flame. The size of this opening depends upon the gas pressure and the size of flame desired and should be made small enough to secure a slight backing up of the flame within the heating chamber and not too large as to be ineflectively heated. The size and dimensions of the heating chamber also determine the heating effect and I have found by experiment that if the heating chamber is made too short it will be inelfectively heated.

. Not only does the improved method provide a way by which the flamewill be automatically and immediately re-lighted if it becomes extinguished, but by causing the flame to be divided into two zones as shown and by confining the heating zone within a more or less closed chamber the flame as a whole is efiectively protected from blasts and drafts of air. In other words, Ifind that with a tip such as described when subjected to blasts of air,=the flame instead of being immediately extinguished as is the case with the usual tips, is not onlyprotected by the walls of the heating chamber but may actually burn from one or more of the openings I, J or K on the side of the tip opposite to the direction of the blast.

The tip could be made of other materials but is preferably of material which is heat retentive but which will not readily conduct heat. Material, commercially referred to as lava, and already mentioned herein, has these properties and is very desirable. In tips constructed of this material in accordance with my invention the head or bead becomes so hot and the heat is so retained thatthe gas will be re-ignited several seconds after extinguishment of the flame, whereas the base of the tip remains so cool that a match applied thereto will not ignite. This will prevent heating of supports or fixtures in which the tips are used.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows: a

1. The method of burning acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gases for illuminating purposes, which consists in projecting a gas stream through a restricted orifice, in 1gniting the same, in subdiving the resulting flame into two defined zones, one of which is non-illuminating and non-carbonizing and the other of which i an illuminating zone, and in causing the non-illuminating zone to heat a body of refractory material with which the gas stream when not ignited comes into close proximity or contact, whereby the gas stream will be ignited, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The method of burning acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gases for illuminating purposes, which consists in projecting a gas stream through a restricted orifice, in igniting the same, in subdividing the resulting flame into two distinct zones, one of which is non-illuminating and non-carbonizing, and the other of which is an illuminating zone, in causing the flame to be projected through an annular body of refractory material at or about the dividing line between the two zones, wherebysaid annular body will be heated by the nonilluminating flame to ignition temperature, as and for the purposes set forth.

3. The method of burning acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gases for illuminating purposes, which consists in igniting a constricted gas stream so as to produce an elongated flame, in feeding to the flame at its base a sufficient supply of air only to produce a non-illuminating and non-carbonizing zone therein, in causing the non-illuminating section of the flame to impart heat to a body of refractory material :located sufficiently close .to the gas stream as to ignite the same, and in supplying suflicient air to the flame beyond the refractory material as to make the flame luminous, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The method of'burning acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gase for illuminating purposes, which consists in projecting a gas stream through a. restricted orifice, in teeding a limited supply of air to the gas stream at its :base so that when the gas stream is ignited a substantially prolonged non-illuminating zone will be secured, in adding to the gas stream a further supply of air Within the heating chamber, and in projecting the flame through an opening in the heating chamber to burn outside of the same as a luminous flame, the Walls of the heating chamber adjacent to said orifice being heated by the non-illuminating section of the flame to the ignition temperature, as and for the purposes set torth.

5. The method of burning acetylene or similar hydrocarbon gases tor illuminating purposes, which consists in projecting a gas stream from a restricted orifice and igniting the same, in causing the resulting flame to be projected through an annular body of refractory material whereby the flame will be contracted at a point between its extreme ends, in feeding to the flame between its origin and the contracted portion thereof a limited air supply to produce a non-illuminating zone which heats the annular body to the ignition temperature, and in supplying to the flame between the contracted portion and its outer end a further supply of air to produce a luminous zone, substantially as and for the purposes set forth. i

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 22nd day of November, A. 1).,

AU-GIE L. HANSEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, -D.-G. 

